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Sherry Questions – Answers – Ideas

What do you want to know? We’ve been big fans of sherry for quite some time now and have accumulated quite an archive of sherry articles covering everything from production to tasting notes. What we don’t have are your personal questions.

Being that this month’s Virtual Tasting theme is Sherry, all the time, 24×7, is one of many wonderful excuses to consume more than the recommended serving size of sherry is reason for us to celebrate. But we need to know what questions you would like answered so that we can aid you in your sherry exploration. We know a lot of sherry experts and can find out details that the average Joe may not. So I put forth this simple question, What is on your mind? How can we help?

Let me start with a few questions: How long will an unopened bottle of Sherry last? How can you tell from the bottle how old a Sherry is? How do you know when a Sherry has passed its time?

http://passionatefoodie.blogspot.com/ RichardA

Let me start with a few questions:

How long will an unopened bottle of Sherry last? How can you tell from the bottle how old a Sherry is? How do you know when a Sherry has passed its time?

Ryan

Sherry lasts depending on what type it is. A Manzanilla is not going to last very long for two reasons, one it is delicate and it loses it's primary flavors quickly once oxygen touches the wine, nad two because I can't stop drinking it! A old PX on the other hand if refrigerated can last for a long time, up to a month, though I do find that it's best aromas are lost in the first week or so. Sherry of the fino and manzanilla varieties begin to go down hill the minute the wine is bottled. These should not be consumed after 6-8months in bottle. The qualities that make them so ethereal are the ones that make drinking them right after bottling so wonderful! As far as telling how old a bottle is, well, with Osborne and Gonzalez Byass, you can tell by this code on the back. You'll see a Letter followed by 5 numbers, for example this: L08707 In the example above the wine was bottled on the 87th day of the year 2007 or the end of March 2007. Other producers have other codes, so I'm not guaranteeing this works for all of them. I'll see if Lustau has a special code that they will share…more soon

http://www.catavino.net Ryan

Sherry lasts depending on what type it is. A Manzanilla is not going to last very long for two reasons, one it is delicate and it loses it’s primary flavors quickly once oxygen touches the wine, nad two because I can’t stop drinking it!
A old PX on the other hand if refrigerated can last for a long time, up to a month, though I do find that it’s best aromas are lost in the first week or so.

Sherry of the fino and manzanilla varieties begin to go down hill the minute the wine is bottled. These should not be consumed after 6-8months in bottle. The qualities that make them so ethereal are the ones that make drinking them right after bottling so wonderful!

As far as telling how old a bottle is, well, with Osborne and Gonzalez Byass, you can tell by this code on the back. You’ll see a Letter followed by 5 numbers, for example this: L08707

In the example above the wine was bottled on the 87th day of the year 2007 or the end of March 2007.

Other producers have other codes, so I’m not guaranteeing this works for all of them. I’ll see if Lustau has a special code that they will share…more soon

mike turpen

The small patch on the back of a rioja lable that is lite green red or dark red meanwhat? to a wine buyer and or drinker. Mike

akshay

what are the rows and columns in solera system called?

gabriellaopaz

Each solera is made up of 'scales' or tiers, made up of a certain number of butts. At floor level, you'll find the oldest butts. The tiers placed on top of this, containing progressively younger wine the further away from the floor they are, are called criaderas (which means “nurseries”), which are numbered according to their closeness in age to the solera, or ground floor, tier (the closest being the 1st criadera; the next one, the 2nd criadera, etc.)

Helen Rood

hi my name is helen i was wondering if the sherry in my mothers has any value, she has had it at least 30-40 years it is unopened and been stored in a wardrobe. Thankyou for your time in this matter helen

gabriellaopaz

Hello Helen! First off, we need more information. Can you tell us more about the sherry?

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Catavino evolved from the wanderings of an American couple who craved a radical change in perspective.In 2005 they quit their jobs, moved to Spain and dug deep into the local gastronomy. As time passed, they expanded their focus to include Portugal, whereby sharing the heart and soul of Iberian food, wine and culture. We invite you to follow our adventures via our blog or, for those who'd like to experience Spanish and Portuguese gastronomy themselves, we'd like to offer you our firsthand tips on travel and our expertise in organizing food and wine tasting tours.